Chapter 571: Forbidden Land

Half an hour later, Chen Xiaolian walked through the street as he pulled Soo Soo along with him. Soo Soo had a ridiculously shaped hat on her head and a vampire’s cloak over her body. The little girl appeared to be in a pleasant mood and there was a bounce in her every step.

At that moment, she had seemingly recovered a portion of the innocence that a ten-year-old girl should have.

At a souvenir shop, Soo Soo had casually pointed at a shelf inside and the show owner took out the terrifying looking toy for her, a pair of vampire fangs. After putting them on, the two sharp fangs protruded out from her mouth.

After accepting the item, Chen Xiaolian had released a sigh.

Something so small was priced at 10 Euros – back in his own country, he could casually get it in one of the smaller shops for just 2 RMB.

After checking the box, sure enough, there was the fine print in the corner: Made in China.

However, since Soo Soo had taken a fancy to it, Chen Xiaolian did not mind.

A few moments later, Soo Soo bought another bag of strange looking candies. After putting the candy into her mouth for a while, both her teeth and tongue became blood red in colour.

At the same time, at the other end of the town…

An Asian young man in grey coloured sweater had both his hands inside his pockets as he made his way through a ramped walkway. As he did so, he watched as a group of tourists stood beside a stone stele to take pictures.

The young man observed his surroundings for a moment before pulling out a mobile phone.

“Boss, I have checked the layout of the area and finished mapping it. I will be sending a 3D map for you soon.

“Good,” A voice answered him through the phone. “You head to the castle and check the layout there first.”

“Mm.” The young man slowly said, “We will make it. We still have more than one day.”

“Be careful not to expose your identity. By now, others must have arrived as well. Make sure you do not expose yourself before others like us. I do not want to have to get into a fight with others outside before it starts.”

“Understood.” The young man hung up and kept the mobile phone.

The entire conversation was held using Chinese.

The young man then turned around and continued moving up the ramped walkway as he made his way to the large and ancient looking castle.

On the back of his sweater was a tiger head pattern.

…

In one of the vampire themed restaurants inside the town…

“Teacher!” A young woman’s voice could be heard. It was filled with displeasure. “Are you still wasting time here?”

“Aiesh, there is still over a day’s worth of time left. Let me savour the delicacies here first.” An old man sat before the dining table as he casually produced a mobile phone out. He snapped a picture of the Romanian foods placed on the table before him and sent it to his Twitter feed.

“I am of the opinion that we should seize this time to make preparations. You cannot treat this as child’s play, teacher!” The young woman who sat opposite the old man clenched hard on a fork.

“Calm the mind and breathe.” The old man gave off a leisurely smile. “When you have lived as long as I have, you will understand. Enjoy the process instead of chasing after results. That is the meaning of life.”

The young woman put on a face. It was clear that she did not believe a word her teacher had just said. Instead, she suppressed her temper and withheld the urge to flip the table.

…

Bran Castle.

Chen Xiaolian brought Soo Soo along and they moved up the ramped walkway. They then arrived before the gate of the castle.

Bran Castle was this town’s biggest and most famous attraction.

According to legends, the figure who inspired the legend of vampires, the famed historical figure of ancient Romania, Vlad III, was the master of this castle.

Of course… that was bullshit.

Chen Xiaolian was well aware of that.

As a webwriter, he had read up on various books. Due to his work in the webwriting scene, he had read up a lot about the legend of vampires.

He knew that this Bran Castle was not actually built by Vlad III.

This castle was built in 1377. Back then, even Vlad III’s father was not yet born.

This castle was originally built to resist the Turks invasion. It was built to be a military castle.

It was not even owned by Romanians in the beginning. It was in 1406 that the King of Hungary had bestowed the castle to a Romanian noble.

As for the model figure for the legend of vampires, Vlad III, he was one of the nobles of Romania.

To be exact though, the model figure for the legend of vampires had actually stayed in Bran Castle for a time.

However, it was not for long.

Moreover, Vlad III died at the age of 31.

He was killed on the battlefield.

Historically, he had never drank human blood – forget human blood, he did not even drink animal blood.

Vlad III was an extremely powerful figure. He had a fiery character and a warmonger. Additionally, he was extremely cruel toward his enemies. The actions he took was most brutal.

His nickname was ‘The Impaler’.

Because he came up with a very cruel way of punishment, one used especially for his enemies. He would make wooden piles with sharpened tips and ram it into a person’s *** until it came out from the person’s mouth.

Just like making pork skewer, he would skewer humans on those wooden piles and erect the wooden piles on both sides of a street.

According to the legends, once, when he fought against the Turks, he found himself on the losing end and had to retreat to the fortress. However, he decided to ‘impale’ the thousands of captives his side caught, killing them in the process. Next, he sent his men to put up the wooden piles with the impaled corpses in tow on both sides of the street that the Turkish army would march upon.

In the end, when the pursuing Turkish army saw the impaled corpses on the wooden piles, the brutality of the scene caused the soldiers in the Turkish army to fall to their knees. The sight shattered their morale and they no longer dared to pursue him. Instead, with their broken morale, they turned away and ran.

This was Vlad III’s most famous battle strategy.

He also utilized this savage method against all his enemies, regardless if they were external or internal. He would utilize this vicious method of punishment against anyone who dared to oppose him.

Due to the cruelty of his ways, the more it spread, the more terrifying and bloody of a figure he became. In the end, he somehow became a flesh eating, blood drinking monster.

This Bran Castle had once played host to him for some time. As a result, it became a famous tourist attraction, the birthplace of the vampires.

…

When Chen Xiaolian was leading Soo Soo through the gate doors of Bran Castle, he walked past an Asian youngster in sweater. He was the only other Asian there. However, they failed to notice each other.

Pulling Soo Soo’s hand, Chen Xiaolian entered the famous fortress castle.

Naturally, the castle was not small. However, it was also not as large as he had imagined it to be. The main castle also sported four corner towers. It was after all, once used as a military staging point. External wise, the building appeared very unrefined but very solid.

He could feel a sense of ghastly gloominess when walking through the castle.

This atmosphere of gloominess gave an invisible form of support toward propping up the ‘legend of vampires’ atmosphere.

Chen Xiaolian however, felt that this was nonsense – this was a building that had weathered through hundreds of years. Additionally, it had also taken part in the many wars throughout history. Thus, it was practically an old and worn out antique.

Any building left for decades alone would end up with an aged atmosphere of gloom.

Let alone a few hundred years.

The various signboards and explanations put up inside seemed deliberate in joyfully introducing the legend of the vampires in this castle.

Chen Xiaolian was not surprised by this – the local government was dependent on the tourism industry to go on. Without doing something like this, how were they supposed to make money?

On this trip, Chen Xiaolian, who brought Soo Soo here, only gave this place a cursory glance. He also did not pay much attention to the tourists beside him. He simply led Soo Soo together with him as he quickly circled his way around the castle.

The most important part was checking out the layout of the place.

He made no special discovery.

…

The sky turned dark and the number of tourists on the street gradually lessened.

The West was different from his own country. There were very few nightlife spots here. Even though this was a tourist spot, there were not many people on the street at night.

Chen Xiaolian brought Soo Soo back to the hotel. They went directly to the third floor and Chen Xiaolian rapped on Phoenix’s room door.

Appearance wise, it would seem that Phoenix had just woken up not long ago. She was wearing pyjamas and barefooted when she opened the door for them.

She also appeared to have just come out from the shower. Her cheeks were blushed from the hot bath and her hair was only partially dried. Seeing how she was walking barefooted inside the room in those loose pyjamas, there was no need for him to think much to conclude that those were insulated pyjamas.

Chen Xiaolian appeared rather uneasy with the situation. Phoenix however, revealed no feelings of awkwardness. After letting Chen Xiaolian and Soo Soo in, Phoenix moved to the bed and sat down. She grabbed the blanket and hugged it before asking in a sleepy voice, “Done with your stroll? You look like you got quite the harvest.”

As she spoke, she pointed at Soo Soo, who was wearing a variety of commemorative objects.

Chen Xiaolian sat on the sofa inside the room. After thinking for a moment, he said, “We strolled through the town and found nothing. It appears there is a need to wait until tomorrow.”

After a pause, Chen Xiaolian then asked, “Have you eaten yet?”

“No,” replied Phoenix with a frown. “Just get room service. I do not feel like going out.”

She yawned as she spoke.

Chen Xiaolian nodded. He made a call to the hotel and ordered them to send over some dishes. Next, a strange atmosphere of silence descended upon the room.

The feeling of awkwardness increased for Chen Xiaolian. He did not know what to talk to Phoenix about. The two of them looked at each other but no words came out. They were seemingly unable to find anything to talk about.

Truth be told, it was a very simple issue. The two of them had gone through two instance dungeons together after all. In terms of recounting their experiences, having nothing to talk about was hardly the issue.

However, in both instance dungeons, Phoenix’s guild members were also there – at present, Phoenix’s guild had experienced near total extermination. She was the only one left, the lone leader and member of her guild.

Talking about old times would inevitably lead to talking about her old members. Doing so would cause her to feel sad. Thus, Chen Xiaolian was approach the subject.

In the end, Phoenix was the one who first broke the silence.

“Chen Xiaolian, I will make an agreement with you.”

“Mm? Err… … go on.” There was a very solemn expression on Chen Xiaolian’s face.

Phoenix sat on the bed, still hugging the blanket. She said coolly, “You came looking for me and asked me to accompany you here. Although I felt puzzled, I had still chosen to accompany you. I helped you once, you must also help me out once – once this matter is over, that is.”

“What is it you want me to help you out with? Tell me.”

“I want to kill one person,” said Phoenix coolly. “You must help me.”

“Kill one person?” Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment. “Who?”

“For now, I cannot tell you. Just remember, you owe me one. In the future, I will go look for that person for revenge and kill him. You… … must help me.”

“An Awakened?” asked Chen Xiaolian.

“Mm.”

“That person is not a member of my guild, is he?” Chen Xiaolian deliberately put on a relaxed smile.

“No.”

After another moment of hesitation, Chen Xiaolian said, “Fine, when the time comes, tell me again.”

Phoenix straightened her back and stared right at Chen Xiaolian. “Remember what you promised here today!”

…

The next morning, at about 10 o’clock, a dusty looking SUV entered the town.

The SUV stopped by a vampire-themed hotel and the doors of the SUV opened up. A bald man stepped out of the SUV and stretched his waist. Next, he patted the window and said, “We have arrived, everyone, get down.”

Nicole said nothing as she alighted from the SUV. She simply raised her head to check up on the hotel before her. She also surveyed the street that was filled with souvenir shops. She then asked with a frown on her face, “Why did you bring us here? Who are you looking for here?”

Tian Lie grinned and said, “Take a guess.”

Tom Huggins and Jenny got down from the SUV. There was an extremely distorted look on Tom’s face.

Both his fists were tightly clenched as he cast a cold look at Tian Lie. He suddenly spoke through gnashed teeth, “You… … how did you know?!”

Tian Lie raised a brow and looked at him before deliberately saying in a slow, drawn out manner, “Oh?”

“How did you know about this place?!” Tom Huggins asked in a near-whisper. “You… you are here to look for that fellow, aren’t you! How did you know he is here?”

Tian Lie smiled and cast a serious look at Tom Huggins. “Colour me curious. How did you know? Logically speaking, considering your position in Thorned Flower Guild, this is a secret you have absolutely no way of knowing! In all of Thorned Flower Guild, only Shen and I know of this secret. Only us two.”

Tom Huggins took a deep breath, his face quickly taking on a frantic look. “It is true then. It is truly that person? You are really here to look for that mysterious person!”

He suddenly took a few steps back. He pulled Jenny forcefully and quickly said, “No! We want to leave!”

Tian Lie narrowed his eyes. “Knight Ivan, what exactly do you know?”

Jenny, too, cast a puzzled look at her husband. “Tom, what is it?”

“This place is very dangerous!” Tom Huggins said through clenched teeth. “This is a forbidden land!”

“Forbidden land?” Nicole grew curious. “What forbidden land?” She cast a curious gaze at Tom Huggins.

As a veteran Awakened, Nicole had never heard anything special regarding Bran – this place was just a tourist attraction with the legend of vampires.

“When you say forbidden land, what does it forbid?” Nicole continued asking.

Tian Lie did not respond. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and smiled at Tom Huggins. “You explain. I am also feeling very curious. How did you find out about this secret?”

After being subjected to Nicole’s sharp gaze, Tom Huggins sighed and said, “Forbidden land means, this place forbids a certain type of people from coming near it. Should those people dare enter, they will… … disappear.”

“Certain people?” Nicole considered it. “Awakened ones? You mean, this place forbids Awakened ones from entering? Could some legendary class figure from the Awakened circle be residing in here? An absolute master has secluded himself here?”

“No, not Awakened ones.” Tian Lie finally spoke up. “This forbidden land does not forbid Awakened ones.”

“If so, who does it forbid… …” Nicole’s face suddenly flickered. “You mean?”

“That is correct.” Tian Lie nodded. “Not many in the Awakened circle knows about this secret. However, all the high-ranking Players in the Player world knows about this legend. This place is a forbidden land… … which forbids Players!”

…

[TL: If you think there are some discrepancies with the life story of Vlad III… keep calm and blame magic. Or GM.]